The New York Times has responded to accusations it published a "swastika" shaped crossword in a recent newspaper edition.
Many took to social media to slam the crossword which was published on December 18, the first day of the Jewish Hanukkah holiday.
"So if anyone is looking for a job making crossword puzzles or editing crossword puzzles I’m thinking the New York Times may have some openings after this first day of Hanukkah Sunday Crossword today," one person posted on Facebook next to an image of the crossword.
"Intentional?" another person replied.
There was so much conjecture over the crossword, fact checking website Snopes stepped in to investigate.
"It's true that this image showed the Sunday crossword puzzle from The New York Times, and that it did somewhat resemble a swastika shape," a Snopes article stated.
However, it added a statement from a spokesperson for The New York Times.
"This is a common crossword design: Many open grids in crosswords have a similar spiral pattern because of the rules around rotational symmetry and black squares."
The crosswords' creator said they just wanted to create "a fun whirlpool shape".
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